Meal Kit Services to Make Life Easier for Working Moms

No one disputes the importance of sitting down to dinner as a family each night. The benefits are wide-ranging and well documented. Yet, like early morning spin class or flossing every day, when time is in short supply and stress is running high, good intentions can quickly give way to just getting by.

Thankfully, running the company and making nutritious meals for the family doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition these days. An increase in the number and type of meal delivery and grocery shopping services means there are options available for almost all lifestyles, diets and budgets. Let’s take a look at how a business-owning mom can take something off her plate while still putting dinner on the table with a few meal prep apps working moms swear by.

Our Favorite Meal Kit Services

Basic Meal Services

Big name companies like Blue Apron, Plated and Hello Fresh make it easy to cook and serve delicious dinners on busy weeknights. Blue Apron offers a customizable family plan designed to serve four people per meal and allows you to choose two, three or four recipes per week at an average of $8.00 a serving and free shipping. Similarly, Hello Fresh offers a family plan for four people with two or three recipes per week for around $7.50 per serving and with a $5.99 shipping fee. Plated advertises a plan that feeds two adults and two teenagers for two, three or four nights a week at the price of $9.95 per serving with free shipping. All three companies allow you to skip weeks, cancel at any time, and boast a wide variety of chef-prepared recipes, fresh ingredients, and clear instructions for creating main dishes and sides.

For Kids

For families with small children, Yumble offers an array of prepared meals for kids. With childhood staples like mac and cheese and pizza pockets, it’s not hard to find things that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy, taking some of the drama out of meal times. Yumble offers plans for one, two or three children and features multiple allergy-friendly and nutritious options. The meals arrive pre-cooked and specially sealed so that they can last for a week in fridge and many of the meals can even be eaten at room temperature so you can skip the reheating step. Unfortunately, Yumble’s delivery is limited to zip codes “east of the Mississippi River” but the company is expanding rapidly and will begin delivery to the entire country soon.

For Dietary Restrictions

Sun Basket, a San Francisco based service, offers meal plans for a wide variety of dietary restrictions and lifestyles and allows you to mix and match recipes across the plans. Featuring organic produce and clean ingredients, plans are available for three nights per week for up to four people at the price of $11.99 per serving. Choose from Paleo, Gluten-Free, Pescatarian, Lean & Clean, Vegetarian, Mediterranean, Vegan, Quick & Easy and Diabetic-Friendly menus as well as a special Chef’s Choice or Vegetarian Family plan with four servings for four nights a week priced at $10.99 per serving. Green Chef also offers both carnivore and omnivore family plans designed to be prepared and served family style and featuring ketogenic, Paleo, vegan and pescatarian recipes.

15-Minute Meals

If you’re really pressed for time, check out Gobble—a service that claims it delivers meals that can be prepared in fifteen minutes or less. Simply choose which proteins your family eats, schedule your delivery, and receive three different dinner kits per week, portioned for a family of four for the price of $11.99 per serving plus a $6.99 delivery fee.

Stock your cupboards and fridge without ever setting foot into the grocery store with the help of delivery services like Pea Pod and Insta Cart, which allow you to order supplies from local stores for a reasonable fee.

Finally, NomNomNow delivers freshly-made meals to your front door so that the four-legged members of your household aren’t left out from family dinners.